i go to a famous gathering at the patroon's manor house.
we come to a soft, clear night in the indian summer-time of 1774--a night not to be forgotten while memory remains to me.
there was a grand gathering and ball at the manor house of the patroons, and to it i was invited. cadwallader golden, the octogenarian lieutenant-governor, and chief representative of the crown now that tryon was away in england, had come up to albany in state, upon some business which i now forget, and he was to be entertained at the van rensselaer mansion, and with him the rank, beauty, and worth of all the country roundabout. i had heard that a considerable number of invitations had been despatched to the tory families in my old neighborhood, and that, despite the great distance, sundry of them had been accepted. sir william johnson had now been dead some months, and it was fitting that his successor, sir john, newly master of all the vast estates, should embrace this opportunity to make his first appearance as baronet in public. in fact, he had arrived in town with lady johnson, and it was said that they came in company with others. i could not help wondering, as i attired myself, with more than ordinary care, in my best maroon coat and smallclothes and flowered saffron waistcoat, who it was that accompanied the johnsons. was i at last to meet daisy?
succeeding generations have discovered many tricks of embellishment and decoration of which we old ones never dreamed. but i doubt if even the most favored of progressive moderns has laid eyes upon any sight more beautiful than that which i recall now, as the events of this evening return to me.
you may still see for yourselves how noble, one might say palatial, was the home which young stephen van rensselaer built for himself, there on the lowlands at the end of broadway, across the kissing bridge. but no power of fancy can restore for you--sober-clad, pre-occupied, democratic people that you are--the flashing glories of that spectacle: the broad, fine front of the manor house, with all its windows blazing in welcome; the tall trees in front aglow with swinging lanterns and colored lights, hung cunningly in their shadowy branches after some italian device; the stately carriages sweeping up the gravelled avenue, and discharging their passengers at the block; the gay procession up the wide stone steps--rich velvets and costly satins, powdered wigs and alabaster throats, bright eyes, and gems on sword-hilts or at fair breasts--all radiant in the hospitable flood of light streaming from the open door; the throng of gaping slaves with torches, and smartly dressed servants holding the horses or helping with my lady's train and cloak; the resplendent body of color, and light, and sparkling beauty, which the eye caught in the spacious hall within, beyond the figures of the widowed hostess and her son, the eight-year-old patroon, who stood forth to greet their guests. no! the scene belongs to its own dead century and fading generation. you shall strive in vain to reproduce it, even in fancy.
the full harvest-moon, which hung in the lambent heavens above all, pictures itself to my memory as far fairer and more luminous than is the best of nowaday moons. alas! my old eyes read no romance in the silvery beams now, but suspect rheumatism instead.
this round, lustrous orb, pendant over the hudson, was not plainer to every sight that evening than was to every consciousness the fact that this gathering was a sort of ceremonial salute before a duel. the storm was soon to break; we all felt it in the air. there was a subdued, almost stiff, politeness in the tone and manner when dutchman met englishman, when whig met tory, which spoke more eloquently than words. beneath the formal courtesy, and careful avoidance of debatable topics, one could see sidelong glances cast, and hear muttered sneers. we bowed low to one another, but with anxious faces, knowing that we stood upon the thin crust over the crater, likely at any moment to crash through it.
it was my fortune to be well known to madame van rensselaer, our hostess. she was a livingston, and a patriot, and she knew me for one as well. "the tories are here in great muster," she whispered to me, when i bowed before her; "i doubt not it is the last time you will ever see them under my roof. the colonel has news from philadelphia to-day. there is trouble brewing."
i could see colonel schuyler standing beside one of the doors to the left, but to reach him was not easy. first i must pause to exchange a few words with dominie westerlo, the learned and good pastor of the dutch church, of whose intended marriage with the widow, our hostess, there were even then rumors. and afterward there was the mayor, abraham cuyler, whom we all liked personally, despite his weak leaning toward the english, and it would not do to pass him by unheeded.
while i still stood with him, talking of i know not what, the arrival of the lieutenant-governor was announced. a buzz of whispering ran round the hall. in the succeeding silence that dignitary walked toward us, a space clearing about him as he did so. the mayor advanced to meet him, and i perforce followed.
i knew much about this remarkable mr. colden. almost my first english book had been his account of the indian tribes, and in later years i had been equally instructed by his writings on astronomy and scientific subjects. even in my boyhood i had heard of him as a very old man, and here he was now, eighty-six years of age, the highest representative in the colony of english authority. i could feel none of the hostility i ought from his office to have felt, when i presently made my obeisance, and he offered me his hand.
it was a pleasant face and a kindly eye which met my look. despite his great age, he seemed scarcely older in countenance and bearing than had mr. stewart when last i saw him. he was simply clad, and i saw from his long, waving, untied hair why he was called "old silver locks." his few words to me were amiable commonplaces, and i passed to make room for others, and found my way now to where schuyler stood.
"the old fox!" he said, smilingly nodding toward colden. "one may not but like him, for all his tricks. if england had had the wit to keep that rude boor of a tryon at home, and make colden governor, and listen to him, matters would have gone better. who is that behind him? oh, yes, de lancey."
oliver de lancey was chiefly notable on account of his late brother james, who had been chief justice and lieutenant-governor, and the most brilliant, unscrupulous, masterful politician of his time. oliver was himself a man of much energy and ambition. i observed him curiously, for his mother had been a van cortlandt, and i had some of that blood in my veins as well. so far as it had contributed to shape his face, i was not proud of it, for he had a selfish and arrogant mien.
it was more satisfactory to watch my companion, as he told me the names of the tories who followed in colden's wake, and commented on their characters. i do not recall them, but i remember every line of philip schuyler's face, and every inflection of his voice. he was then not quite forty years of age, almost of my stature--that is to say, a tall man. he held himself very erect, giving strangers the impression of a haughty air, which his dark face and eyes, and black lines of hair peeping from under the powder, helped to confirm. but no one could speak in amity with him without finding him to be the most affable and sweet-natured of men. if he had had more of the personal vanity and self-love which his bearing seemed to indicate, it would have served him well, perhaps, when new england jealousy assailed and overbore him. but he was too proud to fight for himself, and too patriotic not to fight for his country, whether the just reward came or was withheld.
colonel schuyler had been chosen as one of the five delegates of the colony to attend the first continental congress, now sitting at philadelphia, but ill-health had compelled him to decline the journey. he had since been to new york, however, where he had learned much of the situation, and now was in receipt of tidings from the congress itself. by a compromise in the new york assembly, both parties had been represented in our delegation, the whigs sending philip livingston and isaac low, the tories james duane and john jay, and the fifth man, one alsopp, being a neutral-tinted individual to whom neither side could object. the information which schuyler had received was to the effect that all five, under the tremendous and enthusiastic pressure they had encountered in philadelphia, had now resolved to act together in all things for the colonies and against the crown.
"that means," said he, "that we shall all adopt massachusetts's cause as our own. after virginia led the way with patrick henry's speech, there was no other course possible for even jay and duane. i should like to hear that man henry. he must be wonderful."
the space about mr. colden had shifted across the room, so that we were now upon its edge, and schuyler went to him with outstretched hand. the two men exchanged a glance, and each knew what the other was thinking of.
"your excellency has heard from philadelphia," said the colonel, more as a statement of fact than as an inquiry.
"sad, sad!" exclaimed the aged politician, in a low tone. "it is a grief instead of a joy to have lived so long, if my life must end amid contention and strife."
"he is really sincere in deploring the trouble," said schuyler, when he had rejoined me. "he knows in his heart that the ministry are pig-headedly wrong, and that we are in the right. he would do justice if he could, but he is as powerless as i am so far as influencing london goes, and here he is in the hands of the de lanceys. to give the devil his due, i believe sir william johnson was on our side, too, at heart."
we had talked of this before, and out of deference to my sentiments of liking and gratitude to sir william, he always tried to say amiable things about the late baronet to me. but they did not come easily, for there was an old-time feud between the two families. the dislike dated back to the beginning of young johnson's career, when, by taking sides shrewdly in a political struggle between clinton and de lancey, he had ousted john schuyler, philip's grandfather, from the indian commissionership and secured it for himself. in later years, since the colonel had come to manhood, he had been forced into rivalry, almost amounting to antagonism at times, with the baronet, in colonial and indian affairs; and even now, after the baronet's death, it was hard for him to acknowledge the existence of all the virtues which my boyish liking had found in sir william. but still he did try, if only to please me.
as we spoke, sir john johnson passed us, in company with several younger men, pushing toward the room to the right, where the punch-bowl was placed.
"at least, he is no friend of yours?" said schuyler, indicating the red-faced young baronet.
"no man less so," i replied, promptly. two years ago i doubt i should have been so certain of my entire enmity toward sir john. but in the interim all my accumulating political fervor had unconsciously stretched back to include the johnstown tories; i found myself now honestly hating them all alike for their former coolness to me and their present odious attitude toward my people. and it was not difficult, recalling all my boyish dislike for john johnson and his steadily contemptuous treatment of me, to make him the chief object of my aversion.
we talked of him now, and of his wife, a beautiful, sweet-faced girl of twenty, who had been polly watts of new york. my companion pointed her out to me, as one of a circle beyond the fire-place. he had only soft words and pity for her--as if foreseeing the anguish and travail soon to be brought upon her by her husband's misdeeds--but he spoke very slightingly and angrily of sir john. to schuyler's mind there was no good in him.
"i have known him more or less since he was a boy and followed his father in the lake george campaign. the officers then could not abide him, though some were submissive to him because of his father's position. so now, fifteen years afterward, although he has many toadies and flatterers, i doubt his having any real friends. through all these score of years, i have yet to learn of any gracious or manly thing he has done."
"at least he did gallop from the fort to the hall at news of his father's death, and kill his horse by the pace," i said.
"heirs can afford to ride swiftly," replied the colonel, in a dry tone. "no: he has neither the honesty to respect the rights of others, nor the wit to enforce those which he arrogates to himself. look at his management in the mohawk valley. scarce two months after the old baronet's death--before he was barely warm in his father's bed--all the dutch and palatines and cherry valley scotch were up in arms against him and his friends. i call that the work of a fool. why, tryon county ought, by all the rules, to be the tories' strongest citadel. there, of all other places, they should be able to hold their own. old sir william would have contrived matters better, believe me. but this sulky, slave-driving cub must needs force the quarrel from the start. already they have their committee in the palatine district, with men like frey and yates and paris on it, and their resolutions are as strong as any we have heard."
others came up at this, and i moved away, thinking to pay my respects to friends in the rooms on the left. the fine hall was almost overcrowded. one's knee struck a sword, or one's foot touched a satin train, at every step. there were many whom i knew, chiefly albanians, and my progress was thus rendered slow. at the door i met my kinsman, dr. teunis van hoorn.
"ha! well met, cousin sobriety!" he cried. "let us cross the hall, and get near the punch-bowl."
"it is my idea that you have had enough," i answered.
"'too much is enough,' as the indian said. he was nearer the truth than you are," replied teunis, taking my arm.
"no, not now! first let me see who is here."
"who is here? everybody--from hendrik hudson and killian the first down. old centenarian colden is telling them about william the silent, whom he remembers very well."
"i have never heard any one speak of teunis the silent."
"nor ever will! it is not my métier, as the french students used to say. well, then, i will turn back with you; but the punch will all be gone, mark my words. i saw johnson and watts and their party headed for the bowl five-and-twenty minutes ago. we shall get not so much as a lemon-seed. but i sacrifice myself."
we entered the room, and my eyes were drawn, as by the force of a million magnets, to the place where daisy sat.
for the moment she was unattended. she was very beautifully attired, and jewels glistened from her hair and throat. her eyes were downcast--looking upon the waxed floor as if in meditation. even to this sudden, momentary glance, her fair face looked thinner and paler than i remembered it--and ah, how well did i remember it! with some muttered word of explanation i broke away from my companion, and went straight to her.
she had not noted my presence or approach, and only looked up when i stood before her. there was not in her face the look of surprise which i had expected. she smiled in a wan way, and gave me her hand.
"i knew you were here," she said, in a soft voice which i scarcely recognized, so changed, i might say saddened, was it by the introduction of some plaintive, minor element. "philip told me. i thought that sooner or later i should see you."
"and i have thought of little else but the chance of seeing you," i replied, speaking what was in my heart, with no reflection save that this was our daisy, come into my life again.
she was silent for a moment, her eyes seeking the floor and a faint glow coming upon her cheeks. then she raised them to my face, with something of the old sparkle in their glance.
"well, then," she said, drawing aside her skirts, "sit here, and see me."
